SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTION

FREEDOM TO BE PROCHOICE ABOUT ABORTIONWomen have the right to decide whether or not to continue pregnancy and to bring a pregnancy to term. When a pregnancy is unwanted, its continuation can take a heavy toll on a woman’s physical and emotional well-being. Decisions one makes about one’s body, particularly one’s reproductive capacity, lie squarely in the domain of private decision-making. A pregnant woman may seek advice from others, but only she knows whether she is ready to have a child, and governments should play no role in making that decision for her. • The Human Rights Committee has recognized that denying women access to legal abortion services is an arbitrary interference in their private lives.28 • The European Court of Human Rights has underscored the connection between pregnancy and a woman’s private life, which includes her physical and psychological integrity. It has recognized that States have a positive obligation to effectively secure the physical integrity of pregnant women.29 This obligation requires them to establish procedural safeguards to ensure that women can make an informed decision about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy30 and access safe and legal abortion services in a timely manner

Woman’s Right to be Free from Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment International law recognizes that women have a right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The Human Rights Committee has stated that cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is not restricted to acts that cause physical pain, but also applies to mental suffering, which often accompanies denials of access to abortion services.

Forcing women to carry pregnancies to term causes physical and mental suffering. As a result of restrictive abortion laws and policies, many women experiencing complications of pregnancy and needing therapeutic abortion are forced to suffer from painful, frightening and life-threatening conditions. • Human rights bodies have recognized that restrictive abortion laws can lead to violations of the right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The Committee against Torture has recognized the impact of restrictive laws, which force women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term or to undergo illegal abortions that often place their health and lives in danger, and noted that the failure of States to take steps to prevent these acts constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment.33 Specifically, it has indicated that a total prohibition on abortion, which forces a woman to carry a pregnancy resulting from a crime of gender-based violence, such as rape, “entails constant exposure to the violation committed against her and causes serious traumatic stress and a risk of long-lasting psychological problems such as anxiety and depression.”34 The Human Rights Committee has stated that criminalizing abortion is incompatible with the right to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Women in Middle East - GCC Countries may also undergo severe suffering and anguish when legal abortion services are inaccessible. • In many countries, healthcare personnel refuse to provide legal abortion services because of their own objection or discriminatory attitudes towards abortions. In the case of L.M.R. v. Argentina, the Human Rights Committee found that the State’s failure to ensure a woman’s access to abortion services to which she was legally entitled, caused her physical and mental suffering, which constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Additionally, in the case of R.R. v. Poland, the European Court of Human Rights established a violation of the right to be free from inhumane and degrading treatment because of the suffering experienced by R.R., due to the knowledge that she could not terminate her pregnancy even though the fetus had an incurable deformity and she was entitled to have an abortion under the Polish law.37 The Court stated that “[s]he suffered acute anguish through having to think about how she and her family would be able to ensure the child’s welfare, happiness and appropriate long-term medical care.”38 Furthermore, the denial of access to abortion services in certain circumstances, regardless of the legality of the procedure, constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. • In the landmark decision of K.L. v. Peru, the Human Rights Committee found that the depression and emotional distress experienced by a 17-year old girl were foreseeable consequences of the State’s failure to enable her to benefit from a therapeutic abortion, and constituted a violation of her fundamental right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.39 Notably, this ruling did not depend on the legality of abortion.